You’ll want different colors of felt (mine are all blues and purples) and cut out 2 shapes for each ornament. That will be 48 shapes because we’ll do a star for the top.

The fun part of the ornaments (for me anyway) was getting all the supplies for the sparkle! I don’t usually use very much sparkle in my projects, so this has been a really great way for me to get my sparkle on.

I started with my ribbon and trims. The first trim that I noticed was the metallic silver mini ric rac. If I have the opportunity to use ric-rac, I take it. You’ll need some ribbon for hanging your ornaments. I’m using 3/8 inch silver ribbon (the link is similar, but not quite the same). I also couldn’t resist the white pom poms. So many fun things to decorate with.

You can’t do bling right without some sequins, right? I bought an assorted pack of sequins so that I could add some different sizes and colors to my ornaments.

For some of the quicker and easier ornaments I found these snowflake buttons for some instant glitz and shine.

So now are you ready to get going? Here are the first 5 ornaments for my tree.

The top is left open so you have a pocket for your goodies and treats. I have loved doing a mix of hand sewing and different stitches on my machine. Next post will be details on the different decorations I did.

Need some more ideas for shapes? These ornaments from Imagine Our Life are not pockets, but they are so cute! Will be keeping these bookmarked for future ideas.

So you’ve finished the quilting on your advent calendar tree base and your ready to apply the binding. I made my binding tape from this fabric.

This one fits my blue and purple color scheme and it reminded me of icy snow flakes. If you have never made your own bias tape binding before, now is the time to try! It’s such a great fun way to add a little interest to projects. By far my favorite tutorial for making the binding is Dana Made It: Understanding Bias and making Bias Tape. However, if you’ve never sewn bias binding before, this project is a tricky one to start with. The curves and sharp corners make it harder than most. You have several different options for sewing it on and Dana Made It also has a good explaination of your choices: How to Sew Bias Tape

I opted to use lots and lots of pins when sewing my bias tape.

I also decided to hand sew the tape during the final step since it gave me more control. Hand sewing all those curves and corners made it so I could definitely cover up the stitching from the other side. There are a ton of tutorials on mitered corners out there, but the Prudent Baby tutorial is a good place to start.

However, it’s a lot harder to find instructions on inverted or inside corners. Some of my corners turned out fairly crisp.

But several didn’t. If I was to do it again, I might try the instructions on this tutorial. Please let me know if you’ve seen another good tutorial for this!

I love the point on the top. :)

Now it’s time to add buttons. I knew I wanted one on each tree point. I didn’t want one at the top because I’m going to put a snap for a star topper for Christmas Day. I wanted to leave a little room under each button and I didn’t want it to look to organized. My Christmas trees never have ornaments in a row! They are always randomly scattered and I wanted to replicate that.

I used purple and clear (affiliate links) sparkly buttons in both 5/8″ and 3/4″ size. All of my ornaments will be blue and purple felt so I chose these to stay in my color theme.

Next up is sewing ornaments, which I have to admit has been so much fun.

I’ve been working away on projects here and I have so many things to share. A few weeks ago I posted a Handmade Occasions collection on DIY Advent Calendars. At first I though I would use one of those tutorials, but then inspiration struck. I figured there maybe someone out there who would like to sew along with me, so I’m posting a tutorial and the pattern for my Christmas Ornament Advent Calendar.

This advent calendar will be a quilted tree with buttons to hang the ornaments by. We’ll make and decorate felt pocket ornaments for each day.

Let’s get started with our tree!

Assemble your pattern after printing it out.

Cut out 2 trees from your fabric and 1 tree from your batting. I am using swiss dot for my fabric since it reminds me of snow. As you can tell from the photo above, I like to trace my pattern and then cut it out. We are going to bind the edges so you don’t have to worry about the ink washing or disappearing.

Then make your quilt sandwich (right side down/batting/right side up) I used safety pins to keep mine together, but I know the quilt spray adhesive is probably the easiest. Pins were what I had.

Then decide what quilt pattern you want to do. I did a swirl pattern. A great place to start is to google christmas tree clip art. I thought the swirls would go well with this particular tree shape and complement the curvy points.

I free motion quilted this tree. It’s actually the first real project I did any free motion on (hence the squiggles).

Next time we will put on the binding and the buttons. Looking forward to seeing your projects!

So it may just seem like I’m posting a whole bunch of tutorials for Handmade Occasions, but I actually intend to make a whole bunch of these things! luckily most of them are fairly quick and not large projects to take on. The largest project I’ve started is Connor’s future play kitchen and his felt food.

As I started making the felt food, I realized I barely had any colors. I headed to Joann’s while they had felt on sale and bumped out my color choices. Even though I was primarily thinking about food creation, the fall felt garland had stuck in the back of my mind.

I originally thought that cutting all the leaves would be tedious, but it only took a few hours to get done. Unlike the original tutorial, I decided I wanted some different leaf shapes for my garland. I chose three leaf shapes, used a little clip art to help me sketch them out and started cutting.

Connor enjoyed playing with the garland a little before I hung it up. So much so that whenever he notices it he asks for it to come back down. I might have to make a little one for him to enjoy.

Luckily I had the perfect handspun left over from a cowl that I had made. The orange and brown tones give it that little extra autumnal feel.

I’ve never done much in the way of seasonal decorations, but I’m excited about doing a few things now. It feels more important with Connor. A special way to mark the and learn about the changes outside.

I have seen several of these cheese cloth ghosts floating (ha!) around Pinterest, but this Floating Cheesecloth Ghost from Love and Laundry got me because it uses cornstarch to make it stiff. Seems like a great project to do with kids and so much fun to customize (arms or no arms?). Not to mention a fun science experiment for older ones.

I spotted these awesome Bats by Made last year, and I have been thinking about them ever sense! If any of these decorations get made for this year, this has to be the one. I love how natural they look. If you have older kiddos, it would be a great way to learn some about bats.

Need something tasty share with neighbors and friends? This Pumpkin Apple Butter from Sweet Bella Roos might be just the thing. Time to get as many pumpkin recipes going as possible! ;)

It had been awhile since I had been to the Saturday Market, but I’m really glad I at least got to go once this fall. There are only a few weekends left, and even fewer with sunny weather. The colors were stunning, and I couldn’t help myself from taking a few shots. Even if I looked like a tourist in my own town.

These peppers grabbed me first. This year I’ve actually been able to get over my dislike for bell peppers. I’m still not fond of the green ones, but red, yellow, orange. Yum! Not sure about purple though, may need to get a few of those to try.

This pepper booth always gets me. They have a tiny pepper roaster and it always smells like New Mexico to me (home sweet home!) If anyone ever asks me what I miss about NM? Green Chili and New Mexican food! I think most people expect me to say the sunny days. No way! Give me that Oregon rain.

Speaking of Oregon rain. Some of these beauties went home with us. Someday we’ll learn where and how to go chanterelle hunting, but for now we know we can get some at Saturday Market.

I remember moving here and seeing the giant bunches of basil for sale. So fragrant. With those strawberries there, it almost doesn’t look like an autumnal photo though!

The next few weekends we have more autumnal activities planned for our family. Does your family have any fall traditions? How do you celebrate the bounty of wonderful colorful foods?

It’s that time of the week again. I’m compiling 5 tutorials for handmade gifts every week and asking you to join in too! Scroll down for the link party. You can seem more Handmade Occasions here.

This week I’m thinking about Advent Calendars. Do you do one? Is it homemade? Connor won’t really understand it quite yet, but it’s a tradition I would really like to start this year. For us, it’s not only a count down to the holidays, but a countdown to his birthday and Anthony’s birthday.

There are lots of options with advent calendars. I’m obviously interested in something made from fabric, because I want to make it once and then use it every year. However, there are tons of creative things out there with paper, toilet paper rolls and even muffin tins. I also am looking for something with little pockets. This is similar to the calendar I grew up with, so it has some sentimental value too.

Look for sewing tutorials and most likely Sew Mama Sew will have something to fit the bill. The quilted advent calendar by Elizabeth from Oh Fransson! is very clever and so beautiful! If you haven’t seen Elizabeth’s work before and you quilt, you must check her out.

I love the idea of the mini stockings. This one while beautiful will definitely need some time set aside for all that cutting, quilting and assembling. However, even the finishing is great on this mini stocking advent calendar from Needles and Lemons.

I know this pocket advent calendar looks a lot like the Sew Mama Sew one above, but instead of quilting, this one uses felt. Purl Bee is fantastic resource for projects that are simple, clean and timeless. The Embroidered Felt Advent Calendar is great for something that will last a long time in a family tradition. I love that the numbers are hand embroidered on each square giving it a very personal feeling.

This one is similar to the stockings that you would use a clothes line or something similar to hang them, while the cones are separate. The beauty of something like this is that you can add each cone as the days go instead of just filling a pocket. The Christmas Calendar for Sharing by Pickles is a fun creative calendar. I love that not all the fabrics are holiday themed!

This calendar isn’t for Christmas, but solstice instead! I love the the 3 dimensional nature of the trees and the owls. This calendar can be pulled out for both the winter and the summer and explores learning the seasons. I have to be honest, the Solstice Calendar isn’t really a tutorial (oops!) but this post from Green Kitchen is well worth the inspiration. This paired with one of the tutorials above would work well.

Now having compiled this list, I’m thinking of lots of ideas for ours. Something with pockets? A tree shape? Most likely I will do mine in a blue, purple, ice and winter theme instead of the xmas green and red.

Want to join Handmade Occasions. Compile a list of 5 tutorials (they don’t have to be advent calendars) and link below.